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Knowledge Flow: Valuing This Element of the Evaluation Process
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| Presenter(s):
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| Karen Widmer, Claremont Graduate University, karen.widmer@cgu.edu
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| Abstract:
To knowledgeably evaluate, the organization must evaluate its knowledge. Integrated knowledge management systems are considered crucial to sustainable evaluation practice that builds organizational learning capacity. Preskill & Boyle (2008) elaborate that a mature system, with the ability to 'create, capture, store, and disseminate evaluation-related data and documents…as well as processes, procedures, and lessons learned from evaluation efforts' enables the organization to hone their evaluation efforts. This presentation will take an in-depth look at select Knowledge Management System (KMS) research regarding the characteristics of knowledge that feed organizational learning. Specific knowledge components include Polanyi's (1966) early work regarding tacit and explicit knowledge; Nonaka's (1994) theory of knowledge creation; several models of productive KMS combinations at the individual, group, and organizational levels; and the often-intangible role of the functions and junctions of knowledge transfer, diffusion, and complex adaptivity as facilitators of organizational learning.
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Increasing an Organisation's Value of Evaluation From Within: A Case Study From Australia's Oldest Charity
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| Presenter(s):
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| Andrew Anderson, The Benevolent Society, andrewa@bensoc.org.au
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| Abstract:
Charities in Australia are increasingly investing in internal evaluation expertise to improve the quality of evaluations and their potential to improve practice. Four years ago The Benevolent Society (one of Australia's largest and oldest charities) embarked on a journey of evaluation capacity building. This has involved investing in internal evaluation expertise, undertaking internal evaluations and building the capacity of employees to interpret and use evaluation findings.
This paper will include a brief description of The Benevolent Society's evaluation capacity building project and the results of research with staff around their experience of the project, what worked well, what could have been improved and most importantly the impact of this work on the organisation, its staff and the services it delivers. It will draw some conclusions around the value of internal evaluation capacity building projects for the quality and relevance of evaluations as well as the key challenges for this work.
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Evolution of Learning: How Evaluation Can Inform the Practice of Performance Management
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| Presenter(s):
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| Kelci Price, University of Colorado, Denver, kelci.price@ucdenver.edu
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| Abstract:
In recent years the concept of performance management (PM) has become omnipresent in sectors as diverse as transportation, international aid, and education. Although both PM and evaluation share the core concepts of improving organizational learning and practice, in practice systems of PM have generally fallen far short of their promise. Evaluators can play a key role in the evolution of PM by helping to craft PM systems which integrate multiple data sources to provide meaningful information for decision-making, and which will promote and improve organizational learning. This presentation focuses on three major issues in PM which are of interest to evaluators: a) the exclusion of evaluation from PM systems in favor of simple program monitoring, b) the focus of PM on the creation of data rather than its use, and c) how evaluators can improve the production, dissemination, and utilization of evaluation information within a PM system.
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Evaluative Thinking: What is It? Why Does it Matter? How Can We Measure It?
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| Presenter(s):
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| Thomas Archibald, Cornell University, tgs4@cornell.edu
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| Jane Buckley, Cornell University, janecameronbuckley@gmail.com
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| William Trochim, Cornell University, wmt1@cornell.edu
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| Abstract:
Evaluation capacity building (ECB) focuses on facilitating the development of individual and organizational competencies and structures—such as evaluation knowledge and an organizational culture of evaluation—that promote sustained, high quality evaluation. Evaluative thinking is also mentioned in the ECB literature as an important attribute, yet such references are often fleeting. In this paper, we first present our rationale for highlighting evaluative thinking as an important component of ECB practice and as an object of inquiry within research on evaluation. Second, we draw on cognitive and education research to help develop and clarify the construct of 'evaluative thinking.' Finally, we explore some ways of operationalizing and measuring this construct, considering both qualitative and quantitative methods. Our exploratory work on measuring evaluative thinking is situated in a project designed to promote evaluative thinking and foster high quality internal evaluation among non-formal science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educators.
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